Kelly Cycle Coaching athlete, Mark Kelly, who rides for Essendon SKODA cycling team secured a 10th place finish in the road race at the U19 National Road championships.

The course was very hilly and consisted of 6 laps of a 18km course, followed by a 5km twisty road into the finishline.  The 80 plus U19 men were aggressive all day but didn’t allow any breaks to survive off the front.  There were too many strong riders from each state willing to chase anything that looked threatening.

It was largely a race where natural attrition saw weaker riders drop off the back and by the final lap the bunch was down to 30 or so riders.

Without any team mates, Mark Kelly found himself boxed in on the right side of the road with 500m to go and couldn’t find a clear way through until 150m to go.  He made a late charge and finished in 10th place.  Other riders from Kelly Cycle Coaching who competed in the road race included Angus Lyons (38th), David Randall and Drew Morey (27th).

Elbows out Drew as he finishes the road race
David and Mark looking focused	The finishing sprint of the U19 road race

In the criterium the following day, a crash that ripped several spokes from David Randall’s rear wheel ended his chances at racing in the final.  Drew Morey was unlucky to be caught behind this crash and ended up landing in a soft bunch of prickly bushes.  Angus Lyons was still fighting his cold and finished outside the top 25, and thus didn’t progress to the finals.  Mark Kelly made it through his heat and was Kelly Cycle Coaching’s only men’s U19 representative in the final.  Mark was clearly tired from his road race the day before, and only had the legs to follow wheels.  He rode well to finish 23rd and narrowly missed a crash with 3 laps to go that took out most of the top sprinters.

For all of the results please follow this link.

Jim Morey took some fantastic photos over the course of the week.  Please click on this link to review his photographic skills.